Gen 4 G26 Recoil Spring Issue

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Just got my new Gen 4 G26. Field stripped it and noticed how easily the recoil spring came out (very little tension).

I then noticed that if I rode the slide a little to reset the trigger, as opposed to letting it go, the slide would not go into full battery. I chalked it up to a need for break-in, although I have never had such a thing happen with any of the various Glocks I own.

Fired 50 rounds of 124 gr. Lawman and 50 rounds of WWB. It ran perfectly. Brass going where it supposed to and no issues of any kind.

Go to field strip it. Can't get the slide off. Yep, the magazine was out and the trigger pulled. I'm thinking WTH. Turns out the the recoil spring had fallen out of its retention slot and I had to pull back on it to re-seat it in order to get the slide off. Now it appears that my reciever has a little gouge mark where the recoil spring may have caught it when I tried to get the slide off.

Okay, I am a bit perplexed and am foucsing on the recoil spring as the cause of the issue. It still does not go into full battery if I don't let the slide go back fast.

I have a Gen 3 G27 and G26. I thought I would try the recoil springs of those 2 and there was no issue with the slide going to full battery no matter how I rode it.

The recoil spring looks a lot different form those on my Gen 3's. It has the numbers (going counterclockwise) 0, 1(or it could be a 7) and 8.

Questions: Anyone have a similar issue? Anyone know anything about whether these new recoil springs are designed to have what appears to be less tension, or maybe I just got a weak one, or maybe my diagnosis it incorrect? Any other thoughs are welcome.

Oh, by the way, I do plan on going out and shooting it again today to see if the problem with the slide not coming off duplicates. This is my main concern.

EDIT: Note that riding the slide and it not going into full battery was being done without a magazine in the pistol or with an empty magazine in the pistol. Of course, there was no round in the chamber(empty gun).

I've heard that the new 0-8 and 0-8-1 sub-compact guide rods are a little weaker but I've never used one. I agree with Brad, call Glock. With the unloaded gun, the slide should go into battery while slowly easing the slide forward.

If the little gouge in the frame looks like this, it's normal. It's pretty common in sub-compacts and Gen4's, some have it and some don't. It's not a problem, that area just didn't get filled in with plastic thoroughly, and that plastic isn't structurally important.

Thanks for the responses thus far. I will call Glock on Monday to see if I can get a new recoil spring.

Voyager, thanks for the photo; that is not the mark. The mark was not there before I shot it. The mark is near the tip of the little bullet shaped mold mark forward of the mark to which you refer and behind the serial number plate slot. It is a minor gouge like mark.
Not too concerned about the mark. I just think it was caused when I tried to pull the slide off when the recoil spring metal end may have got stuck there.

Update. But, first, thank you again,Voyager, for the link. That photo in the link shows what appears to be wear in the approximate area of mine. Mine, however, is more toward the tip of the bullet shaped mold mark and is extremely minor in comparison. My "gouge" is more of like the thinness of the metal end of the recoil spring. It looks like the end it just kind of caught in there and then there is a very slight scuff in front of the "gouge". The "gouge" is also very shallow. Maybe "gouge" isn't the right word to describe it. Bottom line is that it is extremely minor.

Now for the update. Put 50 rounds of Blazer Aluminum through it. It ran with Glock Perfection, just like the previous 100 rounds mentioned above. After every 10 rounds in the first 30, I took the slide off with no problem. After the last 20 rounds, I took the slide off with no problem and observed that the "gouge" has not changed. Still extremely minor. Nevertheless, it still will not go into full battery when empty if I ride the slide.

By the way, this little Gen 4 G26 is a great little shooter. At this point, I don't know whether I like it better than my Gen 3 G26 in so far as its feel. Using it with no backstrap attachment.

I was a little worried when I first got my Gen4 G26. If I manipulated it just right, I could get it to get out of battery but it would always come back into battery if I moved it even just a tad. I went and shot it and stopped worrying.

All Glock RSAs fall out of the assembly notch the first time the slide is cycled. That's why if you just take the slide off without disassembling it further, you need to make sure to push the RSA back into the notch before returning the slide to the frame.

The function test for spring pressure is to point the pistol straight up and let the slide ride forward while keeping the trigger pulled to the rear.

All Glock RSAs fall out of the assembly notch the first time the slide is cycled. That's why if you just take the slide off without disassembling it further, you need to make sure to push the RSA back into the notch before returning the slide to the frame.
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I understand that they do move slightly out of the notch; but, I think this one came out further than normal because it appeared to be what hung up. It was only after I was able to re-seat it that the slide came off. It wasn't easy to re-seat (difficult to get fingers in there). I may be wrong; but, I can't think of any other reason, based on the "gouge" and the fact that slide came off easily after I re-seated the RSA.

Also, I am positive that it was properly seated before I shot it. I always check on all my Glocks to make sure the RSA is properly seated before I put the slide back on. It is habit.

EDIT: Although I am "positive" that I properly seated the RSA before firing, I am imperfect, and I could have screwed up that time.

All my glocks (and Baer 1911's) will not return to battery if you ride the slide or otherwise improperly operate the pistol (jam it into someones gut or into a car window for example). Good news is it will not blow up in your face and fire out of battery. Revolvers are better for that scenario.

Go run 1000 rounds through it and this will become a non-issue. Mine is on the 3500 mark or so with zero issues.

Thanks Radain; but, it doesn't do it with the RSA's from my Gen 3 G26 and G27. In fact, I cannot recall any of my other Glocks ever doing this.
I did note that the RSA looks very different than the Gen 3 RSA's.

They've redesigned the sub-compact RSA's to the same manufacturing process as the larger Gen4 guide rods, giving them some of the same extra features like the inner extended piece of plastic on the muzzle cap. The 0-8-1 supposedly has a thin metal washer at the muzzle end to keep the larger outer spring from going over the plastic muzzle cap slightly, as could happen with the older versions.

All Glock RSAs fall out of the assembly notch the first time the slide is cycled. That's why if you just take the slide off without disassembling it further, you need to make sure to push the RSA back into the notch before returning the slide to the frame.

The function test for spring pressure is to point the pistol straight up and let the slide ride forward while keeping the trigger pulled to the rear.

During this event is there ammo in the gun? does it do the same thing without ammo?

If it goes bang, its fine.

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No ammo in the gun. Most of the time I don't even have a magazine in gun. If there is a magazine in the gun, the magazine and gun are empty.

When shooting, it does go bang every time. Just put 50 WWB and 10 Gold Dot +p through it this afternoon. Total round count is now 210 and it runs great. Interestingly, unlike my other Glocks, it puts the shells in somewhat of a pile, comparatively speaking.
I guess my concern is that if the RSA is weak, could that result in "frame battering" issues?

Radian, do you have the new RSA 0-8-1? All my other Glocks never fail to go to battery no matter how much I ride the slide. They have older RSA's.

I have looked at my RSA 0-8-1 (or 0-1-8) closer. It is difficult to explain; but, it appears to have some kind of double action to it compared to my older G26 and G27 RSA's. It has a metal cap enclosing another spring and it feels like it slightly hangs up at the end of the metal cap. As stated previously without any rounds in the gun and without any magazine, I tried racking the slide a little less so the the metal cap did not pop out and it won't fail to go into battery no matter how slow I ride the slide. But if I rack the slide back a little further to where the metal cap pops out, then it fails to go into battery only when I ride the slide.

This may very well be a design function, and there probably is nothing wrong with the RSA. It may be just as strong as the older RSA's.

I would be curious to see if anyone else is having this experience with the new RSA in the subcompacts. If you try this, before you do, make sure there is no round in the chamber (empty gun) and the magazine is out of the gun.

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